Vito Fossella Looking To Run Again in 2010? And What About Norm Coleman's Corruption Case?

Republicans, always and forever the America First Party, are happy as clams about Rod Blagojevich's arrest. In their dreams the worm has turned and the pendulum has swung. But if they were smart they'd forget about Blagojevich and William Jefferson and let the law take care of those two and instead concentrate of Nancy Pelosi's stubborn refusal to take hard lines on unindicted criminals like Charlie Rangel, George Bush and Dick Cheney. Rangel should have been forced out of his Ways & Means Chair months ago and Pelosi's gross dereliction of duty inherent in preventing the impeachment of Bush and Cheney makes her an accessory after the fact in their long catalogue of crimes. And over on the Senate side, I believe Ted Stevens' 7 criminal indictments were greeted not with a serious ethics investigation but with a standing ovation. There are tapes of that; none of those people applauding him should be eligible to continue serving in the Senate. Why can't Harry Reid keep that body of geezers in line?

And speaking of people who shouldn't be eligible to serve in Congress, Vito Fossella hasn't even served his 5 days in jail yet-- let alone explained why he happens to have two families, one in NY and one in northern Virginia-- and he's already serving everyone in Staten Island who will come bagels and lox. His brunch this Sunday is widely viewed as a first dip of the toe back into the addictive waters of politics for the disgraced Fossella.

[I]t seems that event organizers, including members of the Fossella family, are having difficulty getting ordinary rank-and-file Republicans to come to the 11:30 a.m. event.

"They're having trouble getting people," said source with knowledge of the event. "Apparently they're not getting enthusiasm. Don't forget, it's Christmas time. On the other hand, a lot of people might be thinking, 'What can he do for me now?'"

...The Fossellas are billing the Hilton soiree as "thank you" party for supporters, but some believe that Fossella is using the shindig as a way to gauge support for a possible run at McMahon in 2010.

If that's the case, insiders said, Fossella might be disappointed at the turnout, especially with Republicans, including elected officials, being pressed to bring along enough people to stock a table of 12.

"I'm having a hard time," admitted one Republican. "It's, like, 10 days from Christmas. People are going to be away or putting up their trees, or shopping."

Any poor attendance at the brunch should be attributed to the holiday season, he hastened to add, and shouldn't be used as a measure of Fossella's popularity.

Not every Republican sees it quite that way. In fact, the top GOP dog on Staten Island, Guy Molinari, seems to feel that Fossella's future in politics hinges on the brunch. "The bottom line is how many people show up to his event. If a lot of people show up, it would be an indication that he’s very popular and would be a formidable candidate.” With $220,000 in his election fund and a household name, Fossella is eager to challenge conservative Democratic freshman Michael McMahon in 2010. But former state Assemblyman/hot dog vendor Bob Straniere, who ran against McMahon last month and was tounced 105,128- 57,530, is less optimistic about the Republican Party's future in the Staten Isaldn/Brooklyn district. “Republicans can still succeed selectively, but the congressional seat is now lost forever,” he told yesterday's Hill.

And while we're on the subject of political corruption and investigations thereof, many outside of Minnesota are unaware that the intense vote count battle between Al Franken and Norm Coleman is taking place in the context of an FBI investigation into Coleman's corrupt behavior. One of Coleman's cronies, Nasser Kazeminy, paid the senator off, to the tune of at least $100,000, through Coleman's wife, Laurie, who has acted as a kind of moll in a crime syndicate, not unlike John Doolittle's wife and Tom Delay's wife.

Kazeminy tried improperly to send money from his company in Texas to Coleman through Coleman's wife's insurance company in Minneapolis and then forged a bogus contract in an attempt to cover-up the improprieties. Kazeminy has also been flying Coleman and his family around on private planes.

Some in Minnesota are comparing Coleman's corruption-- still in the investigation stages-- with Blagojevich's corruption, now being played out on the front pages on the nation's mass media.

In both cases, the charges are that illegal payoffs to the elected official would be masked as payment of work performed by the wife. The monetary amounts are in the same ballpark: Laurie Coleman’s company received $75,000 and was to be paid $25,000, while the salary proposed for Patricia Blagojevich ran as high as $150,000.

One difference: In the Colemans’ case, payments-- which haven’t been shown to be illegal, and whose propriety Sen. Coleman has insisted on-- were actually made, not just talked about during wiretapped conversations.

...Here are allegations concerning Laurie Coleman contained in the first of two lawsuits filed in Texas against Coleman benefactor and family friend Nasser Kazaminy and Deep Marine Technologies, Incorporated (DMT):

… Kazeminy told Mr. McKim [former CEO of DMT] that he [Kazeminy] would make sure there was paperwork to make it appear as though the payments were in connection with legitimate transactions, explaining further that Senator Coleman’s wife, Laurie, worked for the Hays Companies (”Hays”), an insurance broker in Minneapolis, and the payments could be made to Hays for insurance…

Hays provides risk management, insurance, and employee benefits consulting. It is also the employer of Senator Coleman’s wife, Laurie, who is an aspiring actress and holds no insurance licenses in the State of Texas. Kazeminy informed Messrs. McKim and [former DMT CFO B.J.] Thomas that Hays would funnel the money from DMT to Senator Coleman through the payment of compensation to his wife, Laurie, and that there was nothing to worry about. Laurie Coleman never provided any type of services or products to DMT…

Specifically, Defendants breached their fiduciary duties by: (1) directing improper payments to Hays for the benefit Senator Norm Coleman [sic] and his spouse for no legitimate business purpose …